Financial equality in Region One
I have lived in North Canaan nearly my entire life. Until I served on the board of finance and board of selectman I did not know or pay attention to how the Region One budget is divided amongst the towns. Over the last two years we have seen increases of $400,000 and $730,000. I have been pushing for a separation of costs at the high school. We could divide the education costs based on student population then divide the hard costs like the front office and building and grounds equally with all towns.
We will still fight for that possibility but my true feelings have changed. My wife and I have no children and own a home in East Canaan. Why should we pay three times as much for a school than someone that lives in one of our neighboring towns in the same situation? Isn’t the high school there for everyone in the region to use? Isn’t the argument of the current administration in Washington that the rich should “pay their fair share”? How is it that the town with the highest mill rate and lowest average annual household income pays 39% of a high school split by six towns?
People ask “what about industry in North Canaan,” but the fact of the matter is in terms of grand list we rank fifth at 8.69% of the total list (2020 numbers). To put that into perspective, the total grand list for our six towns is $3.6 billion, North Canaan is at $320 million and we are due to pay 38.9% of the high school budget. Another point, we spend over 76% of our entire $13 million on education; the closest percentage is Falls Village at 63% of their total budget spent on education. This hinders our ability to do anything but the bare essentials of a town.
Most of our town employees/elected officials are among the lowest paid for their positions in the Northwest Corner and I am willing to bet the entire state. This is not an equitable way to divide the costs.
In closing, we should all come together as a region and find a better way. If we based the formula on grand list and every person paid the same percentage of their property taxes to a school tax, then the Democratic cries for the rich to pay their fair share would become a reality. Isn’t that what we all want, an equitable system for all of us? It would also be easier to predict a budget for every town. This isn’t a plea to make other towns pay more, it is a plea to have every taxpayer in the region pay the same percentage of their taxes to support a school that is there for everyone to use.
These opinions are mine as a resident and do not represent the North Canaan Board of Selectmen.
Craig Whiting
North Canaan
Lessons in civility are relevant now
COVID-19 cases are rising; simultaneously, mask mandates are falling as a result of a questionable court decision. We take comfort that vaccination and boosters are effective in most cases to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, but we know that some people who are vaccinated still get COVID-19, can be asymptomatic, may suffer from “long” COVID, and can still transmit COVID-19 to the vaccinated and boosted. We witness the extraordinary efforts of organizers of some congregate events (e.g., college reunions and gala Washington dinners, etc.) to require proof of both vaccination and recent or same-day testing. We also witness the confusion (frankly failure) of some organizers of other congregate events (churches, garden clubs, camera clubs, book clubs, etc.) to deal constructively with the chaos.
The tools for fighting COVID-19 are clear — vaccination, masks, social distancing, testing and isolation. But, there is no generally accepted approach, nor any organization to suggest guidelines that will be followed. While a local church has no policy on vaccination and masks, a local school requires all visitors to be vaccinated and masks inside all school buildings. What is one to do?
The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior of George Washington from the 18th century suggest a helpful approach: “If you cough, sneeze, sigh, or yawn, do it not loud but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.” (Rule No. 5)
If George Washington were president today, he might not endorse mask requirements; but he would no doubt approve concern and respect for each other as we continue to battle COVID-19.
A COVID-19 Protocol of Civility and Decent Behavior might suggest:
1. Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present. (Rule No. 1 from Washington’s Rules of Civility).
2. Get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible to protect yourself and others.
3. Test for COVID-19 shortly before attending a congregate event.
4. If the test is positive, call your doctor, isolate, and do not attend a congregate event.
5. If the test is negative, it is OK to attend a congregate event without wearing a mask if you are vaccinated and boosted and have no symptoms.
6. If you do not test before a congregate event, it is OK to attend only if you are vaccinated and boosted, wear a mask at the event, and have no symptoms.
7. Maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet.
8. Wear a mask to protect both yourself and others.
9. Appreciate that those who wear masks do so to protect both themselves and you.
10. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience. (Rule No. 110 from Washington’s Rules of Civility).
It is up to event planners to organize their activities in a manner consistent with generally accepted standards of civility and decent behavior.
G. A. Mudge
Sharon
Such an honor, a surprise to the honoree
I was unexpectedly honored by the Hunt Library community on the afternoon of Saturday, April 30, during a volunteer appreciation gathering.
Erica Joncyk, the director of the Hunt, said some sweet and funny things showing how well she knows me and then presented me with an intricately complicated sculpture by the inestimable Ani Jenkins, a Falls Village artist and a recent new member of our town.
It’s a 33-inch tower of small wooden books and shapes. Every piece moves. I don’t know its title, but I think I’ll call it, “Everything he accomplished.” I was choked up near tears and will feel that whenever I look at it and daydream.
Art, for me, contains the memories I store in it. This piece holds the heart and love of all the staff and volunteers of the David M. Hunt Library. Thank you. We’re all in this together and I love you all.
Garth Kobal
Falls Village
Hurrying to do good
“I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.” — Thomas Jefferson
Most of my life I have agreed with Jefferson about humans doing good — I believed this to be America’s creed. Headlines/cable news footage have always vociferously celebrated ordinary good Samaritans, rescuers in disasters, lend-a-hand groups; in my own life I‘ve witnessed, received, and organized for good. However, over the past five years, pleasure in doing good for another is under siege — a foul wind blasts a tsunami of insistence on gleefully doing others harm.
A second American McCarthyism is rising — 70 years after the first — each version toxically dangerous for this country. In the 1950s, Sen. Joe McCarthy staged a communist purge, a conspiracy destroying hundreds of lives with lies, libel and lunacy. In January 2021, U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)spoke in condemnation of a criminal insurrection in private and in public then backpedaled to deny, distract and demean those engaged in righting the wrong. Is Kevin McCarthy selling his soul to be House Speaker? Yes, Ben Franklin, ‘tis still true: “He who lies with dogs, gets up with fleas.”
According to a recent NPR/IPOS poll, 17% of Americans believe the core Q’Anon falsehood: “A group of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.” At Judge Brown Jackson’s SCOTUS confirmation hearing, the Judge was skewered as lax on pedophilia crimes by a fistfull of Republican Senators. Subsequently, Marjorie Taylor Green accused three Republican senators expected to support Brown Jackson’s confirmation as pro-pedophilia.
For Taylor Greene it is hard for even her to recall all of her lies, libels and lunacy. Her response to the heinous Ukraine war is rants on European countries decimated in World War II by Hitler’s Nazi regime as “NATO Nazis.” Recently Greene was joined in pedophile lynchings in Michigan by Republican State Senator Lana Theis. The targeted Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, resisted Theis’s character assassination in a stunning in-chamber response ending, “I know hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. We will not let hate win.”
Last week Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was mourned. Albright, in her eulogy, was described as “Hurrying to do good”: She led an end to the Balkan genocide, pressed for Rwandan reconciliation, internationally championed women’s rights, mentored, taught at Georgetown, was a prominent author and an admired mother. A “do gooder” was Albright. She chided those unwilling to do good for others — she pinned her hopes on people stepping up, taking action.
So in the hurry of our lives, I submit that hurrying to do good ought once again dwarf hurrying to do harm. Political parties ought once again set positive agendas to achieve rather than slates of hate. In a nation so pompous about its religious zeal, righteous folk ought once again adhere to one of the Ten Commandments continuously trampled:
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” Exodus 20:16
Kathy Herald-Marlowe
Sharon
The Medicaid unwinding put off in NY and CT
In March 2020, Congress passed President Biden’s coronavirus bill prohibiting state Medicaid agencies from dis-enrolling beneficiaries until a month after the end of the public health emergency (PHE).
The relief bill rightly required Medicaid departments to discontinue Medicaid re-determinations of eligibility, allowing Medicaid enrollees relief from paying for COVID vaccines, testing and treatment. The PHE has driven Medicaid enrollment to a record 85 million, an increase of 19%. New York and Connecticut have extended the PHE April 15 deadline to June 2022, with a 90-day extension.
One in four Americans is enrolled in Medicaid (4 million of New York City’s 8.8 million citizens!) — 22% of Connecticut’s legal residents are enrolled in Medicaid or Husky (children’s health care under Medicaid) and 33% of New York’s legal residents are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. These are our poorest citizens and our most vulnerable Americans: children, the disabled, the aged and pregnant women.
That one in four Americans need Medicaid should be a wake-up call. It shows how many Americans are without health care insurance even with the expansions of the ACA. And it bears considering mental health care services as well as physical health care.
Let’s look at our nation’s health care provision and its poverty policy — still based upon President Johnson’s 1965 Medicare and Medicaid programs. Medicaid as well as its special programs for children and pregnant women are entirely means-tested with state-based groupings and eligibility. There is no one size fits all (as there is with Medicare).
“Generosity” in some states is matched by mean-spiritedness or just silliness in others. Based on the annual national standard of Federal Poverty Rate (FPR), states are allowed to set a ceiling for Medicaid eligibility above or below that FPR.
In 2021, the New York and Connecticut Medicaid eligibility rate for a single adult is about 138% of the FPR of $12,880 (@$18,000). In Alabama, eligibility is 8% of the FPR or anyone earning more than $1,030 per year! In Texas, single adults without children don’t qualify. Texas parents are only eligible if their annual income is approximately 17% of the FPR, or $3,626 for a family of three. (“Ceilings” are clearly “floors”).
The Urban Institute estimates that states will process 77 million eligibility applications for Medicaid once the PHE officially ends. This is going to be severely difficult for individual and family enrollees.
Nancy F. Mckenzie
Retired Professor, CUNY School of Public Health
Amenia
To nurses everywhere
Forty years ago, President Ronald Reagan declared May 6 National Recognition Day for Nurses, which was later expanded to National Nurses Week (May 6-12) to give communities, businesses, individuals, and organizations an opportunity to honor and thank nurses for the many ways they impact our lives.
The pandemic has only heightened our gratitude for the vital role nurses play throughout our lives. Whether teaching a mother how to swaddle her newborn, drying the tears of a child after a tumble on the school playground, providing comfort around a difficult surgery or simply offering a reassuring hand, we turn to nurses at every stage of our lives.
In February 2022, the Gallup Poll reported that for the 20th consecutive year, Americans voted nurses the most trusted professionals in the country. While citing their honesty and high ethical standards, the sacrifices made by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic have only magnified our widespread respect and appreciation.
Noble Horizons salutes nurses everywhere for their singular dedication, boundless compassion, and exceptional skills, offered selflessly when others are in need. We are particularly grateful to our own nurses whose relentless devotion, whether for short term rehab care or longer stays, has kept members of the Noble community safe, even during the most trying days of the pandemic.
In nurses we seek and receive comfort; we trust in their kindness, warmth, and expertise. Whether offering encouraging words of support or highly skilled care, nurses steward the well-being of their patients with equal doses of professionalism and empathy.
Despite the intensifying complexities of providing care during the pandemic, nurses have risked their own lives to bring comfort to all of us. We are honored to salute, thank and recognize nurses for their selfless work and open hearts.
Caroline Burchfield
Director of Community Relations, Noble Horizons
Salisbury
"Cow," by Joelle Sander.Cornwall Library
Lala TamarProvided
